What Happens to TV As We Know It When The Business Model No Longer Works?

Television is a huge part of American pop culture.  Those of us in Generation X grew up in a time when we shared far more of pop culture than future generations are likely to experience.  Indeed, I think it's safe to say we're probably the last generation to have that collective experience.  As authors Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont wrote in their introduction to the book "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s" (see my post HERE for more on that book) eloquently observed:

"For a supposedly fractured generation, we kids of the 1970s and 1980s share a far more universal past than kids today.  We all watched the same five channels, shopped at the same few chain stores, hummed the same commercial jingles."

Today's post looks at the topic of television and whether we'll ever watch TV together again.

It's courtesy of my local NPR affiliate, WNYC and ran on May 25, 2012.  They interview two different media guys, specifically David Carr, New York Times media reporter and Matt Zoller Seitz, TV critic at New York magazine.  Have a listen below, or you can visit the affiliate's website at http://www.wnyc.org/story/212463-future-tvs-community/:



Now, in that conversation, New York Times media reporter David Carr makes the following (scary) observation:

"Dish Network announced a technology right before the Upfronts, 'Hey, we can give you a product that's gonna vaporize all the commercials.' My concern as a consumer is that when the business model goes away, all this yummy programming that Matt [Zoller Seitz, TV critic at New York magazine] and I really enjoy might go away."

We may have an expectation as far as TV is concerned that could potentially disappear as we know it.

I don't think anyone is claiming that television is going away... yet.

Far from it.

But the content we've come to enjoy on TV has come at the expense of others (specifically, advertisers) and that business model is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.  It's not inconceivable to imagine a future where television entertainment becomes primarily a subscriber medium, and those who can afford to pay for it will have the benefit of watching TV from, say their nursing homes, while those who can't will need to live out their golden years in search of something else to fill their days (and nights, for that matter).  Combine that with newspapers and magazines struggling to survive, and it really makes me wonder.

That may be a very pessimistic outlook, although it is a possibility.  I certainly hope it doesn't come to that.

My readers may recall that I recently shared an April 30, 2012 NPR interview with Warren Littlefield (interviewed by Audie Cornish), who was the former President of NBC.  I covered that in a recent post that can be viewed HERE.

Mr. Littlefield defends the current model to some extent, noting that "What audiences want and need are shared viewing experience. And what Must See TV was all about was one network, one night for one decade. And a third of the country would come and watch Must See TV. And you didn't dare go to work the next day because if you hadn't watched, you would be left out of the conversation, that water cooler conversation, that connection."

However, Ms. Cornish does ask "At the same time, you know, if you look at the numbers this quarter for the networks, ABC lost 21% of its average viewing audience.  I mean, this is in the last four weeks. NBC also lost percentage. Fox lost 20%. It just seems as though with the shift, where the eyeballs are going - people watching it on their own - I'm wondering how you still have that same creative process in development if there's this kind of fleeting paycheck."

Mr. Littlefield responded that Must See TV is not doable again, at least not that size and not that magnitude, but he does suggest that it is still feasible to draw a fairly large, widespread audience, such as with a hit like "Modern Family" (ABC) which appeals to adults and kids, audiences of all ages. He says that's still, at nearly 20 million people a week, a pretty broad-based hit that really far exceeds what's being watched on cable. But unlike, say HBO, which is subscription-based, networks can't really do big-budget productions without massive audiences.

The key, at least from my perspective, is that works as long as advertisers are willing to sponsor it.  Let's hope that continues to reach enough people to remain a viable advertising channel.

Luckily I have a pretty substantial DVD collection, much of which is "classic" television that doesn't even get rerun in syndication very much anymore.  But I'd still like to watch TV when I get old without having to pay for the privilege!  

Swatch Watches as Fashion Statements

By the late 1970s, the Swiss watchmaking industry was facing extinction, undergoing the biggest crisis it had ever witnessed.  Not only had Switzerland completely lost the low-end of the market, but the high-end also faced new and fierce competition from Asian (especially Japanese) luxury brands such as Seiko and Citizen.  The Swiss watchmaking industry looked to be a piece of history.  But in 1983, a Swiss company entered the mass-market for watches and turned things around for the country's storied watchmaking industry.  It was able to do this by fully automating assembly, and reducing the number of parts by half (from the usual of about 100 [or more] to only about 50 components).  This was a radical move because Switzerland was (at the time) known for luxury watches which retailed for thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars, whereas most watches for the mass market were assembled in Asia where the cost of labor was significantly cheaper.  The move was phenomenally successful – indeed, it became the most successful watch brand of all time – and the parent company, the Swatch Group, went on to become the largest and most dynamic watchmaking company in the world.

The brand, in case you haven't figured it out yet was (and still is) known as Swatch.

Initially, Swatches were plastic, and came in wide variety of colors and designs.  They were known for their colorful plastic bands to complement the actual watch.  In fact, the company quickly partnered with artists such as Keith Haring for early designs.

Swatch a la Keith Haring

The brand quickly became popular among teenagers, and there were trendy things like "Swatchguards" which were rubber straps that were designed to protect the crystal from scratches.  In effect, Swatch pinned its success not by accuracy or time precision, but by turning watches into a fashion accessory, in effect pushing sales by having the same consumers buy multiple versions.  Indeed, many teenagers wore several Swatches as a fashion statement.  Hip Hop artists (and their followers) also took to the brand, hence it expanded to a fairly wide and diverse demographic profile.

My first Swatch.  It's worth ~$1,600 today!

I'll admit it: I was one of the first people in my high school to actually own a Swatch.  I had one hot off the assembly line, so-to-speak (well, not really, but certainly when my local Macy's started carrying them, and this was before the Macy's brand conquered the department store landscape gobbling up brands including Marshall Field's, Bon Marche, Strawbridge's, Filene's and countless others, as I lived in the NYC suburbs [exurbs?] when growing up).  Anyway, my first Swatch was a grey/black color, with a watch face that was grey and lighter grey vertical stripes, and had two different colored hands for the hour and second.  Nothing too radical in terms of design, but it was radical in that it was a real Swiss watch.  I happened to find one of the very same design on eBay a recently.  Guess what?  The sale price for that was an amazing $1,600!  I paid like $30 for that watch back in 1984 or so.  If I had only saved the dam thing!!  If I only knew!

The Swatch brand also expanded beyond cheap plastic designs to include higher-end designs with metal bands, for example.  Today, Swatch remains a widely-available watch brand.  While it may not have the same cachet it had in the early 1980s, they remain attractively-designed watches at prices that are decent relative to a cheap imports from China, and many are likely to be better quality (Chinese imports have not yet captured the same quality standards as Japanese and Korean-made goods have).

One of Swatch's early U.S. TV commercials can be seen on Retro Junk's website.  See the video by visiting  http://www.retrojunk.com/commercial/show/12644/swatch-watch.

Music Still on MTV

The title for today's post comes from a line in Bowling for Soup's song "1985" (check out their video at http://youtu.be/K38xNqZvBJI).  August 1, 2012 marks the 31st Anniversary of MTV. MTV revolutionized the way we looked at music and the VJs were a big part of shaping that vision, for a time, anyway.

A website called "80s VJs" dot com [http://www.80svjs.com/] has links to the original five MTV VJs, many of whom now have Satellite Radio shows (sorry, VJs, but I don't like retro radio enough to pay for it!!  I may have wanted my MTV, but to pay for the audio-only, not so much)!  Still, the fact that MTV is IMHO a shadow of it's former self, having all but divorced itself from the "M" (for music) part of it's acronym means I rarely tune in any more.

MTV: Forever 21?

The intro to this section comes from a cheesy teen retailer known as Forever 21.  Apparently, MTV agrees with that.  MTV itself didn't really even acknowledge the network's own 30th anniversary (see HERE).  Note this quote from Nathaniel Brown, an MTV executive:

"MTV as a brand doesn't age with our viewers," explained Nathaniel Brown, senior vice president of communications for MTV, who confirmed that there were no plans for an on-air MTV celebration. "We are really focused on our current viewers, and our feeling was that our anniversary wasn't something that would be meaningful to them, many of whom weren't even alive in 1981."

Of course, I no longer fit into the "youth" demographic anyway, but that seems a bit ironic, doesn't it?  After all, isn't this the same network that once ran a series called "I Love the '80s"?!

Anyway, some of the network's moves into reality programming, notably the "Real World" in 1992 were pretty unique, although that really was also the beginning of the end to MTV as a music entity.  Unfortunately, the reality TV formula has been copied left, right and sideways by virtually everyone, with shows like Big Brother and a new one called The Glass House.  It's a fad that, fortunately, has ended as TV networks return to genuine programming.  Still, I can't really fault MTV for it's "evolution" away from music completely.

Indeed, in the book "MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution" by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, the authors note that even during MTV's earliest days, the network established a history of adapting to what viewers were drawn to (often not by executives' choice, but in spite of it, including the network's warming to Hip Hop and the show "Yo MTV Raps").   It's also worth noting that MTV was barely profitable at one point in the beginning, so decisions about programming based on viewership were rooted in the need to cover expenses.  The evolution away from music, incidentally, wasn't completely driven by execs in the corner office.  In recent years, we can point to technology as a factor that drove the final nail in the "music" part of MTV's coffin.

Today, we can pretty much watch videos on-demand online, so the concept has lost some of it's original appeal as far as a channel dedicated to the concept.  And the mere fact that Jersey Shore's Snooki is knocked-up suggests to me that the reality TV part of Viacom's "youth" channel may be due for a reboot as well.  I mean, really ... teenagers today can pick from hundreds of channels on basic cable, and add to that Roku streaming video players and you have a recipe for a cable station kind of basking in it's former glory, but without a real sense of purpose or mission anymore.  The MTV Video Music Awards still run, but it's yet another awards show in a medium drowning with far too many awards shows anyway.

That's just my humble opinion. Viacom probably doesn't give a $#!t what I think, but when my neices become teenagers, I wonder what MTV's contribution to Viacom's bottom line will be?

Still, for it's time, MTV was revolutionary (the same thing can be said for stereo radio broadcasting).  Evolution is the name of the game for survival, and MTV has proven adept at evolving.  But it still sees itself as cutting edge for youth programming.  I'm not so sure about that anymore.

Separately, in 2009, NPR had a blog post about whether YouTube has become what MTV used to be (see HERE).  Indeed, as the former head of NBC television Warren Littlefield, noted in his interview (see my post on that HERE) regarding television, if you don't like what's on television today, just make it yourself.  Indeed, some are doing just that.  For example, an entire YouTube-based series called "Husbands" [http://husbandstheseries.com/] is now luring enough viewers to be noticed by Hollywood.

Last year, NPR had a segment entitled "The Golden Age of MTV — And Yes, There Was One" which addresses the book I already noted at the beginning of this post, and includes interesting interviews with the authors.  Have a listen below, or by visiting http://n.pr/McqJR4:


I bought the book "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution" by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, but frankly, I wouldn't especially recommend it.  It's a bit of a boring tome, which was more about the founding of a new business that became MTV, but I don't think it's the best work on this subject (it does, however, have some interesting quotes from many music people you may find entertaining).  Instead, you might decide to wait ...

In January 2012, Atria Books announced a deal with four of the original MTV VJs for an as yet untitled oral history of MTV's defining years during the early '80s (see HERE for details).  According to the press release: "This publication will mark the first time Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn give their uncensored accounts from the front lines of the cultural revolution that was MTV. Among the highlights will be the VJs' never-before-told stories about getting, doing, and ultimately leaving the most coveted job of the decade; the truth behind Roger Daltrey's demands to visit MTV; days and nights spent partying with Van Halen; the 'Paint the Mutha Pink' contest with John Cougar Mellencamp that went toxic; joining the mile high club while flying to see the band Asia play at the Budokan in Japan; and all true tales of hair styles gone horribly wrong as a new kind of broadcast medium was being created hour by hour and day by day — all perfectly set against the era when you would still call into your answering machine from a pay phone."

As for me, I have a 25 year high-school reunion coming up in 2 weeks, but reminiscing about MTV isn't going to be on the agenda.  It was something bored teenagers watched at home, when we didn't have friends to visit with.  And, while music on MTV may be history, visiting with old friends, even for one evening, is something we can still enjoy today!

Author P.S., October 21, 2013:  MTV and VH1 might have launched music television, but there's a reason they don't play music videos and concerts anymore -- not enough people watch them. These days, they're available on-demand via YouTube and other online channels.  Now, however, rapper and media mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs thinks he can change that with a little help from the internet.  He's launching a new network today called Revolt TV that he says will play rap, hip-hop, and maybe even some country "if it's funky enough, baby."  As of October 2013, the new network had gained carriage on Comcast and Time Warner Cable.  Catch the Marketplace Morning Report story for more details at http://bit.ly/16qqwUh.

Fantasy Island

Back in the 1970's, those who weren't tearing up the disco floors in their leisure suits and platform shoes to the soundtrack of "Saturday Night Fever" on Saturday evenings were probably at home, watching one of the three broadcast TV networks available at the time. A staple for much of the decade were two Aaron Spelling creations perhaps best known for being a place that out-of-work actors and actresses could find work, albeit only temporarily: "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island", which aired on ABC back-to-back on Saturday evenings. (Another blogger did a very interesting analysis of which TV shows' actors are best represented on these shows, see HERE for details!)

I'll save the discussion of "The Love Boat" for another day, but "Fantasy Island" really hasn't been on television for a few years (it seems that TV Land doesn't routinely recycle old network shows as it once did, and even newcomers like Retro Television/RTV, Antenna TV, and Me-TV which have pretty much taken over as far as showing old re-runs, but each has limited their content to a few programs each. Right now, neither "The Love Boat" nor "Fantasy Island" appear on any of their current line-ups, although that could change down the road.

The original idea for "Fantasy Island" was not creative genius, but a willingness to do whatever it took to make a few (million) bucks.  Aaron Spelling was in a pitch meeting with the network and his big ideas were not going well.  That lead to an exasperated joke from the producer. "Aaron was in his office, trying to sell a show to ABC," his wife Candy recalled in an oral history for The Hollywood Reporter, "and I heard him say, 'What would you like me to do? Put some guy on an island and have him grant wishes to people?' He was being sarcastic." He was kidding. But, of course, the network loved the idea, hence "Fantasy Island" was born.

Given the lack of creative inspiration for the successful series, we would later learn that the lead actor himself was largely responsible for his portrayal of Mr. Roarke.  Actor Ricardo Montalbán, who ultimately played Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island", decided on his own what the backstory of what Fantasy Island really was.  In his mind, he said he guided his performance with the idea that Mr. Roarke was not God, or necessarily some kind of angel, but was he was also not the devil, rather he was kind of the man who ran purgatory.

"He's not the devil ... what is he? What is he?" Montalbán mused about his character in an interview late in his life. "Even though the audience didn't realize what I was thinking... I decided this man was an angel who still had a little sin of pride in him... so he is in charge of purgatory, and he has his little cherub to help him." (see the Archive or American Television coverage HERE).

Curiously, Mr. Montalbán was not the actor the network wanted as the lead actor for "Fantasy Island".  ABC pushed hard to have the venerable, but faded star Orson Welles as the show's headliner. Despite the network's desire for Orson Welles, Mr. Spelling wanted the Montalbán and won, obviously. In hindsight, it seems Mr. Spelling's selection helped to make the series work.

DVD Release Caught in Purgatory Until Shout! Factory Steps In

On the DVD front, "The Love Boat", after years of promises, finally made it to DVD and sales for Viacom's CBS Home Video were decent enough (in spite of the studio's greedy decision to issue each season as two separate volumes, effectively doubling the cost for would-be buyers) to produce the first three seasons. As for "Fantasy Island", Sony Home Entertainment released the first season to reportedly "tepid" sales in 2005, hence there was really little financial motivation to go much further. The outlook for more "Fantasy Island" content to be digitized didn't look very promising. Until ...

Shout! Factory to the Rescue

Apparently, the team from Shout! Factory, which began as a company when some guys from the former retro record label known as Rhino Records (after Rhino was sold to Warner Brothers) decided to continue what they were doing ... on their own. But beyond just music, the company also saw opportunity in home video as well. Since then, Shout! Factory has released a bunch of retro TV programming to DVD, including at least one that few entertainment executives expected to sell well: the PBS educational series "The Electric Company". In fact, that particular show sold so well, that the company released both Season 1 and Season 2. But that's irrelevant to today's post, except that it demonstrates that Shout! Factory can see opportunity to make money on the major media companies' discards.

The company has picked up the rights to a few other '70s-'80s shows whose early seasons were released, but stopped, including the "Diff'rent Strokes" spinoff known as "The Facts of Life" and "Night Court", and both have apparently sold well enough among collectors of retro TV. Shout! Factory evidently saw how well CBS Home Video's (Viacom's) "The Love Boat" sold, and concluded two things: first, that there was a market for Season 2 of "Fantasy Island" and second, they didn't want to get too greedy like CBS did by splitting a full season of old TV programming into separate volumes. I suspect that Shout! Factory also has a good grip of how much volume they need to sell to make a profit, so they usually don't overpay for content rights to shows like "Fantasy Island" and they may even be doing small volume productions so they don't get stuck with excess unsold inventory like the major providers (Sony, etc.) do.

The good news: "Fantasy Island" Season 2 was released on DVD on May 8, 2012.

I had Season 1 from Sony already, and while I was generally pleased with it, the show really didn't become the magnet for actors and actresses looking for work until subsequent seasons, so the guest roster in Season 1 was OK, but Season 2 is definitely better.

Sure, I knew who Mabel King was (in addition to being an accomplished stage actress, she also played the role of the mother on "What's Happening" back in the '70s), and there are a few other big names like Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady), Bernie Kopell (best known as Doctor Adam Bricker on "The Love Boat", but also known for his earlier role as Siegfried on "Get Smart"), Don Knotts (from "The Andy Griffith Show", and later "Three's Company"), Leslie Nielsen, Lucie Arnaz (not that she ever really acted, her brother was on "I Love Lucy", not her), and Jim Backus and Alan Hale (both from "Gilligan's Island").

But Season 2 is full of many more stars, and probably the ones Generation X are more likely to recognize. A few more from "The Brady Bunch" show up in Season 2 including Florence Henderson, Robert Reed, as well as a surprisingly young Regis Philbin, celebrity psychic and fortune-teller Jean Dixon, Eva Gabor and plenty of others.

In all, I think Shout! Factory has done a great job with Season 2. The original production content was reportedly not in the best shape so given what they had to work with, the content looks decent and now, you can watch it commercial free.  There's more good news!  Season 3 is coming to DVD on October 23, 2012.  Amazon is taking pre-orders HERE.

A Bit of Background on Fantasy Island


Fantasy Island originally began as two made-for-TV specials which aired in 1977. Viewer response was positive, which persuaded ABC to green-light a weekly series.  For those of you not familiar with it, the basic premise of the show is as follows: a mysterious island exists and people can pay to have their fantasies fulfilled while visiting this island (hence the name "Fantasy Island"). Inevitably, the desires of the island's guests aren't all they're cracked up to be, adding to the mystery and providing a lesson to be learned for each visitor who can pay the price to have their fantasies fulfulled. The regular cast consisted pretty much of two people: Ricardo Montalbán who plays Mr. Rourke, the island's host, and his personal island assistant known as Tattoo, played by the French little-person Hervé Villechaize who also starred as an enemy on the 1974 James Bond flick "The Man with the Golden Gun".  Retroland did a review of "Fantasy Island" HERE.

Incidentally, for those curious about the footage in the show's opening and where on earth that can be found, that island is the island of Kauai, which is part of the archipelago that makes up the U.S. State of Hawaii. At least, that's where you can find the gorgeous waterfalls seen in the opening credits, Wailua Falls.

Video Previews of Fantasy Island DVD Release for Seasons 2

Season 2:

Schoolhouse Rock!

In the early 1970s, a Madison Avenue ad exec named David McCall was frustrated by the fact that his then 11 year-old son was having trouble memorizing his multiplication tables, yet happened to know all the words to almost every rock song on the radio. To McCall, the solution seemed obvious: why not combine pop music with the info. kids needed to learn?

The rest, as they say, is TV — and educational — history.

The result was "Schoolhouse Rock" (a.k.a. "SHR") which aired on ABC from late 1973 to 1985.  Beyond catchy music, another key to the success was repetition (sometimes annoyingly so), which was (not surprisingly) also the mantra for advertising success at the time.  In fact, these three-minute educational vignettes (there were a total of 41 segments in all, at least initially) ran, according to some accounts, as frequently as 7 times every weekend (and, let me add, that "weekends" consisted only of Saturday mornings)!

This series of three-minute educational vignettes combined animation, music, and catchy lyrics to tackle lessons in American history, the rules of grammar, multiplication tables, science, government, and finance.  As The Randino wrote (see HERE and HERE):

"Its toe-tapping lyrics entered a generation's lexicon and, four Emmy Awards later, its melodies are still a pop-culture frame of reference common to an astounding number" of Generation Xers.

Disney acquired the rights to the series (although truth be told, the TV exec responsible for producing series was a guy named Michael Eisner, who would later go on to become CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and the company bought the rights to the series under Eisner's leadership) a number of years ago, and has since put the entire series on DVD (as well as streaming video) for a new, digital generation.

SHR For A New, Digital Generation

I bought the DVD series for my niece Sasha a few years ago, and she did watch and even enjoyed the programs.  Like most of us did as kids in the '70s, she didn't even realize it was "educational" programming, and the fact that the cartoons were something she wasn't already seeing on TV made them completely novel - and even compelling to watch.  The fact that it's animated gives them something of a timeless nature not found in some other television programs, and the commercial-like length (just 3 minutes each) of these things makes them an appropriate length even for kids with short attention spans, because they can watch a clip without investing too much time or commitment.

Now, I will say that the only way I learned the preamble to the U.S. Constitution was via Schoolhouse Rock, although I sometimes wish there was something like another clip covering Amendments to the Constitution (granted, it's a moving target, but memorizing that stuff is terribly boring).  Nowadays, kids can simply Google that stuff, but there's something to be said for knowing it.

MadTV's Public Schoolhouse Rock: A Rockin' Parody!

Several years ago, the TV show MadTV did a really funny parody of SHR they called "Public Schoolhouse Rock" which used the same music with lyrics meant to suggest what was going on in U.S. public schools.  It was really, really funny IMHO.  Have a look and see if you agree!

First, the original:


Followed by the MadTV version:


Disney's Short Attention Span?

ABC tried to resurrect the series in September 1992, and even commissioned a couple of new Grammar Rock segments as well as 8 new "Money Rock" segments.  However, ABC (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney) stopped airing them around 1999.  Given that the way the world watches television these days has completely changed (catch my post on that HERE for more background), I think the key to success nowadays might be trying to plug them into something like Boomerang or Cartoon Network, rather than on ABC.  After all, today, kids might not even realize that ABC exists (in spite of ABC being owned by Disney), yet Boomerang (which itself is a spinoff from Cartoon Network) is something they might be familiar with.  Of course, DVD is even better, and has the added benefit of no commercials.

But Disney has proven to have a pretty short attention span on some of the things in its own massive library anyway, and one need look no further than The Muppets franchise as proof (I'll cover the Muppets in a separate post).  Disney did absolutely nothing with that character franchise until actor and Muppet fan Jason Segal was able to help the company (almost single-handedly) resurrect the Muppet franchise.  Since the success of that film (and the failure of another film called "John Carter"), Disney has committed to doing another Muppet movie.  My guess would be that sometimes, it takes someone to really take ownership of these elements, or the corporate parents are likely let them stay in the Disney Vault permanently!

Disney Educational Productions' YouTube channel has several of the original Schoolhouse Rock videos available online for free, and because Disney is the channel owner, there is little risk of being purged for copyright violation.  Visit https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyEducation to have a look.

Now, if I could just get the damn song for "Interplanet Janet" out of my own mental vault, I might be fine! http://abc.tv/2enLHUu

Author P.S., January 6, 2013: NPR is reporting that "Schoolhouse Rock" just turned 40!  Visit that story at http://n.pr/VGdDCO.

Lovin' You

July 12, 2012 marks the 33rd anniversary of the death of Maya Rudolph's mother, Minnie Riperton. Minnie Riperton is perhaps best known for her breakout hit "Lovin' You" which peaked at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Charts on April 5, 1975, but also hit #6 on the Adult Contemporary Charts at the same time.

You can catch this classic video below, or at http://youtu.be/kE0pwJ5PMDg:



She was known for her unusual vocal range of five-and-a-half octaves which she was able to sing with incredible precision. The song is particularly noteworthy because of the unusually high pitches that she reaches during the song. Also, it's noteworthy for the sound of the chirping songbirds that are heard throughout the song, which are actually Riperton's voice which she phonated by the use of what's known as the "whistle register". To save you from having to ask "what's that?", it's the highest register of the human voice, above even the modal register or falsetto register. It's called that because the notes that are produced from this register sound quite similar to that of a whistle. I always presumed it was birds. Little did I know!

As I noted, Riperton's daughter is actress Maya Rudolph (catch an NPR interview with Maya Rudolph at http://n.pr/LRhMh7), who was a child when "Lovin' You" was recorded. Minnie Riperton died of metastic breast cancer in 1979, when Maya was just a child, but the song has hints of Maya recorded into it! According to the liner notes from Riperton's "Petals" compilation CD, the melody to "Lovin' You" was created as a distraction for Maya when she was a baby, so Riperton and Richard Rudolph could spend time together. Towards the end of the unedited "Lovin' You" release, you may note that Riperton sings "Maya, Maya, Maya"; in concert, near her death, she reportedly changed this to "Maya, Maya, Ringo, Maya." (Ringo was her nickname for her son, Marc).

Anyway, to honor Minnie Riperton, I'm sharing this '70s classic. Note the Afro hairstyle, which was very much the fashion in those days. The Baby's Breath in her hair ... maybe not. Still, for a song that has resurfaced in places like "South Park" to various movies, this one seems appropriate to acknowledge as a 1970's gem!

Crock Pots, Latch Key Kids and Working Moms

The 1970's through the 1980's were a trying time for many American families.  Following the OPEC Oil embargo in the early 1970's, the cost-of-living skyrocketed, further aggravated by the Fed's monetary policies (mortgage rates at that time hit double-digits, ushering in a new product known as the adjustable rate mortgage ["ARM"] as consumers simply refused to be tied down for 30 years to rates that were the highest ever in U.S. history), and the job market was lousy (Note to the "Occupy" people: contrary to what you might believe, this is NOT a new phenomenon, catch the Gen X perspective on that HERE).  A new term also became commonplace: stagflation, which was a combination of [economic] stagnation and inflation, both of which were occurring at the same time.

Many families struggled to make (economic) ends meet.  However, American families proved resilient in spite of government economic policies that, frankly, worked against so many.  Their solution: dual-income families became the norm, rather than the exception as was the case in virtually all prior decades.

Women entered the workforce en masse.  The stay-at-home mom became the anomaly, leading to Generation X to become the first true generation of latch-key kids.  Much has been written about the impact working mothers' had on children, but the good news is that long-term research suggests that most members of Gen X are leading active, balanced and happy lives, according to a long-term University of Michigan survey (see HERE for the press release, catch the research report HERE, or listen to the podcast HERE).

As for the impact of working mothers on family dining, on the other hand, was less positive.  To be fair, women still shouldered more of the burden than fathers (of course, widespread divorce also became common, so single-family households were also pretty routine), and it showed up in what families were eating.

Enter a solution:

The Slow Cooker (perhaps better known by the brand-name The Crock Pot®).

Yes, It's Harvest Gold Color, Too!

It certainly beat yet another variety of Tuna Casserole that could be cooked in 10 minutes, and this enabled working mothers to prepare a stew-like recipe ahead of time and be able to come home to a hot meal that had been cooking all day while they worked.  These were especially big before microwaves became commonplace in the early 1980's.  I can just see "One Day At A Time's" Ann Romano whipping up a Crock Pot recipe so her daughters wouldn't burn the apartment down while trying to cook (especially Julie, who at the time, was more likely to use the stove to cook methamphetamine than dinner)!

In truth, slow cookers have their place in cooking, and they do pretty much what they promise.  But let's face it: no one would likely call stuff cooked in Crock Pots high "cuisine".  Virtually everything done in the slow cooker is a stew of sort, and that's not something I really want to eat every day.  I'll take Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks as an alternative once a week just for some variety!

There was a temporary resurrection of slow cookers a few years ago, albeit temporary.  Even Betty Crocker got into the game with "Slow Cooker Helper", complete with dehydrated vegetables ... just add meat!  But Slow Cooker Helper was a little too processed for most people, why not use REAL vegetables, especially since they're going to cook all day long!

Tony Award's Archived Moment

Last Sunday, the Tony Awards was on TV. As someone who lives in NYC, I was fortunate to have seen many of the winning shows.

I also recently had the pleasure of seeing another show, notably a timely revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" which featured the phenomenal Angela Lansbury as lobbying busybody Mrs. Sue-Ellen Gamadge, as well as a number of other well-known actors, including James Earl Jones, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette and Eric McCormack, most of whom are probably better known for their work on TV. Ms. Lansbury is a classically-trained actress who also starred in movies (who remembers Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"?), as well as over a decade on TV's "Murder, She Wrote".

Now, I don't like to be fatalistic, but realistically, how many more Broadway shows is Angela Lansbury likely to be doing? Right now, she works because she wants to, not because she needs to. But she's 87 years old, and she might not be doing too many more live shows because it's incredibly tough to work in 8 shows a week!  Her co-star from "Mame", Bea Arthur, who also won a Tony in 1966 (along with Angela Lansbury) for her work in the same show, passed away in 2009.

I also had the great pleasure to catch Bea Arthur's return to NYC on November 21, 2005 for a one night-only reprise of her 2002 Tony-nominated one-woman show known as "Just Between Friends" which was terrific. I'm including access to an excerpt from that particular show in which she discusses her friendship with Angela Lansbury. You can buy the clip and download it for yourself by visiting the Amazon.com MP3 collection (see HERE for that).  Definitely worth the small price!

Ms. Arthur won a Tony for her role as Vera Charles in "Mame" (which also starred Angela Lansbury), and as the audio clip notes, the two became lifelong friends as a result. Bea Arthur's "Just Between Friends" show was available on CD (it's pretty much a word-for-word recording from a live show), although these days most people are likely to get it on iTunes or via Amazon (see http://tinyurl.com/BeaArtBF), and she happened to resurrect her role as Vera Charles on film in 1974 (see HERE) with Lucille Ball in a movie version of "Mame" that her husband (at the time) produced, which was released on DVD a few years ago.

Most people felt that Lucille Ball (and Bea Arthur) were simply too old for those roles in the movie, but you do have the opportunity to see Bea Arthur in the role that won her a Tony.  (Many prefer the Rosalind Russell movie version better, although Lucy really wasn't bad in the role, just too old).

This brings me to a great moment that was captured from the Tony Awards twenty-five years ago (in 1987) of the two of them re-doing their roles in "Mame". Fortunately, you can still see that clip online by visiting HERE:

 

TV Tries to Reboot "Dallas", Will It Succeed Where Others Have Failed?

On June 13, 2012, one of the many prime-time soaps that aired from the late 1970's to the early 1980's is set to be re-introduced to TV viewers. In this case, I'm referring to "Dallas", which is scheduled to reboot on cable network TNT. Clearly, as basic cable competes with 200+ stations, more and more cable networks have turned to original programming, like TV Land with it's Betty White/Valerie Bertinelli (yes, I'm leaving the other two actresses out) show "Hot in Cleveland" or Fran Drescher's "Happily Divorced" just to name two. However, the remakes have met with varying degrees of success. None are completely original programming; and at least a few major network remakes of TV shows from the '70s and '80s have already bombed.

The original "Dallas" Theme Song

You can listen below, or by clicking HERE:

Today, I look at why some TV show reboots failed, while others did OK. You may note that I already covered how NBC's former chief believes "Must See TV" is history (see my post HERE), so I think it's pretty obvious that the definitions of success today aren't exactly what they used to be.  Still, a few TV show reboots (as they've come to be known) have done so poorly in terms of ratings they were taken off the air.

I have a few thoughts on why.

For example, back in 2007, NBC tried remaking "The Bionic Woman", which starred Michelle Ryan in the role that Lindsay Wagner effectively created. It failed. In 2008, NBC tried again with "Knight Rider" which also failed, while rival ABC tried a few years later with a remake of "Charlie's Angels" which also failed. Side note: NBC's "Bionic Woman" reboot didn't quite last a full season, although you can find the full season of that on DVD in the bargain bin of many retail stores for like $7.99 these days. However, interestingly, last year, Universal stuck gold by releasing the original "Bionic Woman" from the '70s on DVD, selling at a significantly higher price than the reboot (which was effectively already in digital format). On the other hand, some reboots like "Hawaii Five-0" (CBS) seem to be doing OK, and it's also rumored that CBS might also be thinking they can succeed with a reboot of "Bewitched" (see HERE).

Thoughts on Keys to Successful TV Show Reboots

I think there may be a few keys to a successful TV Show Reboot.

First, don't presume the original audience is going to automatically tune in. They may watch initially to satisfy their curiosity, but if the producer/network wants to keep the ones who watched the original shows coming back, they really shouldn't simply discard the show's entire heritage for the sake of making it better or more modern. For example, the reboot of "The Bionic Woman" did that; I saw almost nothing in that show which even hinted that another show by the same name ran 30 years earlier, no sound effets (modernized or original), no discussion of the "evolution" of bionic technology from the '70s (perhaps with flashbacks to the original), nothing. Instead, try to capitalize on the shows' many years of tevision heritage. Obviously, if the cast is no longer alive or unwilling/unable to participate, that can make things a bit more challenging, but good writers can still pay heritage to a show's long tradition without discarding it completely. Remember: viewers today have access to Google, and chances are, they alredy KNOW the show is a remake, so don't try to pretend that is isn't.

That may be one reason why the "Hawaii Five-0" reboot on CBS is surviving.  The show is a police drama in the 50th state, and there's no disconnect among viewers between today and the fact that another version of "Hawaii Five-0" ran from 1968 to 1980.  Police will always be around, even though they haven't brought back cast from the past, the premise of the series seems perfectly logical.

Also, depending on the changes the producers make to the show and it's basic premise, there's a genuine risk of drawing the original viewers in initially only to lose them if they try to be TOO alluring to younger viewers. But today, discarding a group of viewers as irrelevant won't work. The average viewer today has access to more than 4 stations, so every viewer group counts!

Next, it really goes without saying, but having a sexy cast is key to luring new viewers in. Indeed, I think this may be the one and ONLY thing virtually every reboot has gotten right, but remember: having a sexy cast still won't carry a show with lousy writing! The writers can make or break the show, yet too many seem to view this group as afterthoughts to the overpaid cast.

Finally, an important one seems to be competing in a time slot you can realistically compete in. The good news for the "Dallas" reboot is they're stepping in when the seasons for many shows just wrapped up, so audiences are eagerly looking for something new. TV Land launched it's new series "Hot in Cleveland" during a lull after the seasons had just wrapped up elsewhere, and it seemed to help draw in viewers.

NPR: "The Old With The New: Generations Clash In New 'Dallas'"

As I was writing this post last night, I had a few final thoughts and revisions I wanted to make, and as it turns out, NPR covered the "Dallas" reboot this morning. Their coverage seems to fit the theme of my thoughts, so it's worth sharing with my readers below, or you can catch it on NPR's website at http://n.pr/LXypVk:


I was never big Dallas watcher because I was a kid in junior high school who wouldn't be caught dead watching the same thing my parents watched, and campy soaps certainly fit the bill. But successful shows today actually DO lure several generations in.  In fact, parents actually did watch "Glee" with their kids, making it a big ratings success. Whether the "Dallas" reboot can manage the same thing remains to be seen, but they seem to have learned these lessons, so I think the prospects look pretty decent, but I'll have to see before I reach any conclusions.

My impression, if you look at the promo ads for the Dallas reboot, is that they're indeed trying to sex it up, and notice how the ads include the younger guys, shirtless, in front?  Hot women in towels, also in front?  The new guys in the cast are none other than Jesse Metcalfe, the hottie who is best known as the gardener who banged Gabrielle Solis (played by Eva Longoria) on ABC's "Deparate Housewives", and the other young addition is played by Josh Henderson.

But unlike some of the failed reboots, they are also including the original cast in, too, perhaps to try and lure some of the original viewers in as well.  Smart move on that.

What kind of pop culture blogger would I be if I didn't share one last piece with you?

As scary as it is for me to admit (and perhaps some of my readers), AARP magazine actually has some the original cast of "Dallas" on the front cover (see HERE), as they're doing publicity for the show's remake. It's hard to believe, but J. R. Ewing, portrayed by Larry Hagman, is now 80 years old! It seems like just yesterday when he was a young hottie in "I Dream of Jeannie", but I guess that was over 40 years ago! For the record, today, Larry Hagman is 80, Linda Gray is 71 and Patrick Duffy is 63 -- all certified AARP members, but apparently they still want to do TV!

If the reboot doesn't work for you, rest assured, most of the originals can be found on DVD or are available as streaming media so you can watch from your mobile device.  I, for one, will give the reboot a chance.  Who knows, maybe other characters like Lucy Ewing (played by Charlene Tilton) will appear on the reboot!

Author P.S., November 24, 2012: Just months after his appearance on the opening of the Dallas reboot, actor Larry Hagman, who was known for playing J.R. Ewing on the original version of Dallas passed away from cancer (this was his second experience with cancer according to the Los Angeles Times obituary for Mr. Hagman). Although his role on Dallas was the one he became most famous for playing, Larry Hagman arguably became a television star in the 1960's starring in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie" and that was a role that television viewers remember him best for.

Pop Culture Reunion: The Partridge Family

Blog Design Revisions

When I began this blog, my objective was for a design that had elements of pop culture (and more specifically, seventies pop culture) all over it. I opted for a custom design, but settled on a mult-colored polka dot shopping bag design as the background, but always planned to replace it when I found something better suited. Today, I found it: the pattern painted on the bus from The Partridge Family!  It is believed the design on the bus was based on one from artist Piet Mondrian, who was known for his geometric designs, specifically the one known as Composizione created in 1921, although the bus design was not an exact replica.  You may also note that one of his paintings is featured hanging on the wall of another house featured late 1960's sitcom: "Green Acres", namely the one that belonged to Oliver and Lisa Douglas, but that's a different sitcom for another post.  That will be the background until I decide to replace it with something else. You might also have noticed the Pacman/ghosts at the top of the page, something else I "borrowed", too, but that's been in place since day one. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the design (I've made considerable revisions to the layout I bought, and it's the revisions I'm happiest with) as it stands now.

Another Cast Reunion

Anyway, today's post started pretty much as a share of yet another cast reunion for the early 1970's ABC show "The Partridge Family" which helped to create a few teen idols, most notably David Cassidy. Most of the cast, however, became household names, some for their continued work in show business, others as examples of how child stars go bad (the one I'm referring to would later turn things around, but for a number of years, he spiralled into substance abuse and even homelessness). The latter being, of course, Danny Bonaduce, who became famous at the age of eleven in the series "The Partridge Family". In spite of his young age, Danny was the wisecracking redhead, who was a persistant bane of the family's band manager, Reuben Kincaid (portrayed by Dave Madden).  By the way, totally unrelated tidbit about Danny Bonaduce: he actually attended grade school in Los Angeles with actor Gary Coleman, the kid made famous by the sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes".

I'll get to the reunion in just a minute.

As noted, most of the cast were celebrities as a result of the show. The only exception was the woman who played Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), as she was already a star in her own right, having starred as the original characters in such Oscar and Hammerstein film classics as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Music Man (1962). Jones is also an academy award winner, although she became cemented in pop culture for her TV role as Mrs. Partridge on "The Partridge Family", even though the show ran for only four seasons. The Partidge Family became better known for its reruns in syndication as one of the earlier shows to go that route, but would be followed by many others.

In her personal life, Jones has two sons from her marriage to actor Jack Cassidy (Jack Cassidy died in 1976 in a fire caused by his cigarette which he fell asleep with, talk about tragedies, although he was already divorced from Jones by then, the reasons for the separation weren't made public, but Jack Cassidy was rumored to be gay), and Shirley Jones had adopted Jack Cassidy's son from a previous marriage who would go on to co-star with her on The Partridge Family (hence, David Cassidy is actually Jones' stepson, did you know that?) and became a teen idol as a result.

This isn't about Jones per se, but the fact is two of her kids would become mega-stars in the years that followed. David was the first, but younger brother Shaun would follow in his footsteps. My sister had a huge crush on Shaun for a time, but it was short-lived, as many youth crushes are.

Anyway, last year, NBC's Today Show continued a few reunions, one of which was the cast of "The Partridge Family". Shirley Jones couldn't make it, and Susan Dey, who resurrected her career more than a decade later with a stint on "LA Law" back in the '80s also skipped out, but all of the others (Suzanne Crough, Danny Bonaduce, David Cassidy, and Brian Forster) managed to attend.

For a period of time, NBC had the video available online, although the company's online video retention policy is unclear, but the page dedicated to that reunion can be found at http://www.today.com/id/35663539/ns/today-entertainment/t/get-happy-partridge-family-stars-reunite/ and the video was located at http://www.today.com/video/cmon-get-happy-partridge-family-reunited-436079683590.

"The Partridge Family" is actually running on right now on the Antenna TV network (see HERE), or you can get all four seasons on DVD.

With that, I can say the only other thing to do is visit this awesome website about "The Partridge Family" at http://cmongethappy.com/.  You can find out virtually everything about the show, and it even has the font for the show you can download for your computer (I used it to create this post's header) ... all free.  It's really awesome!

Now, C'mon Get Happy!!

Author P.S., April 28, 2015: Suzanne Crough-Condray, the actress who played the youngest daughter Tracy Partridge in the TV sitcom "The Partridge Family" about a musical family that ran on ABC in the early 1970s, passed away at the age of 52 due to cardiomyopathy.  Her obituary can be seen in the Los Angeles Times (see http://lat.ms/2cstLWK for the obituary), although at the time of her death, she was living in the Las Vegas area and had largely been absent from acting in the years that followed.  In the 2010 Today Show reunion, she said "I'm an office manager for Office Max.  I have two daughters, I'm married, I have a normal job."

Author P.S., November 21, 2017: Actor David Cassidy, who was best known as the actor/musician who played Keith Partridge on "The Partridge Family" passed away at age 67 today. Officially, the cause of death was liver failure (see the obituary at https://nyti.ms/2jNilUx for details), although he was admitted to a Broward County, Florida hospital prior to his passing, and was reportedly suffering from multiple organ failure (both his kidneys and his liver were failing). He became tired of being a teenage heartthrob, but his career in entertainment basically ended with "The Partridge Family". In an effort to spice up his squeaky-clean image, in 1972, he posed nude in a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone, which was daring and did help him shed a puritan image, but it did very little to revive his career, and he ultimately ended up doing local dinner theater shows when Hollywood stopped calling. Like his father, he really struggled with alcoholism. He was arrested several times for driving drunk, and spent time in and out of rehab. Just before his death, he finally admitted to having liver disease caused by alcohol, which he called alcohol poisoning. In a way, his final admission of his many prior lies about his not having recovered from alcoholism was perhaps the first step towards recovery from addiction, but it came too late.

Pop Culture Reunion: Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

In keeping with the theme of pop culture reunions, last (2011) June was the 40th anniversary of the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". The 1971 Mel Stuart film was based on author Roald Dahl's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". The original movie, which starred Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka and an entire cast of kids, parents and Oompa Loompas, actually followed the author's book quite closely in terms of the screenplay, yet the British author reportedly HATED the film adaptation. One of the things he reportedly hated about the movie was that the producer and director made it into a musical. Mr. Dahl passed away in 1990, so he missed the remake (with the title "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") which starred Johnnie Depp as Willie Wonka.

I was only 2 years old at the time the original film premiered, so I never actually saw the movie on the big screen, but I can remember that it was a really big deal when it made it to network TV a few years later, and I was in the right age group (in the second or third-grade) when kids were first started reading books like "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory". The film's producer and director took some creative liberties with the title (for example, naming it Willy Wonka) and also with some parts of the story, like adding a scene where Charlie and his grandfather drink fizzy lifting drinks and must burp to keep from floating away, which the author told the British press he absolutely detested, hence he avoided licensing any of his other books to be made into films while he was still alive.

I will say there have been movie versions of a few other Roald Dahl books since he died, including Disney's rendition of "James and the Giant Peach", and Twentieth Century Fox's "Fantastic Mr. Fox", and I actually like "James and the Giant Peach" best from a production standpoint.  But the original Willie Wonka movie will always have a place in my memory so I'd say its more like a tie.

Speculation on What Author Roald Dahl's Perspective Would Be on 2009 Film Remake

As I already noted, Hollywood remade the movie in 2009 and the star was Johnny Depp (they also called the film "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" which was the real title of the book, not "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", in part because the author said he felt the other title diminished the story about the child's experience and focused inappropriately on the owner of the factory instead, which was probably a fair criticism). While there was lots to like about new version, I suspect the author might also have hated the remade version, too. The reason: the part about Charlie's father being a dentist was NEVER in his original book. In the original book, Charlie's mother is a widow raising her son, parents and in-laws in a tiny house with a low-paying job, so Tim Burton took a great deal of creative liberties with the story as well, which was one reason why the British author reportedly hated the 1971 version.  However, as I noted already, I think the script of the original film follows the book more closely than the new version.

Willy Wonka Cast: Where Are They Now & A TV Reunion

In any event, to commemorate the original film's anniversary, I happened to notice a while back in one of the New York daily tabloid newspapers, in this case The Daily News, has run a series of "Where are they now?" updates on various movies and TV shows over the years, and they did one about Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (probably in anticipation of the film's anniversary). You can view the Daily News feature (which includes a cool slideshow presentation on many cast members both then and now) for the original Willy Wonka movie at http://goo.gl/VKrL.

I also discovered that back around the time of the original Willy Wonka movie's 40th anniversary, NBC's Today Show had a cast reunion (including the cast of children from the film; curiously, Gene Wilder who played Willy Wonka in the flick was not there even though he lives in New York where the Today show is filmed) which can be seen at http://on.msnbc.com/kH1Ywh:

They also established a website at http://www.willywonkamovie.com where you can view the trailer for the revised version. According to one of the PRESS RELEASES, "To honor the 40th anniversary of the film, Warner Brothers digitally remastered the original movie and re-released a high-definition, BlueRay version on October 4, 2011".

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition supposedly contains more than an hour of extras, including Mel Stuart's Wonkavision, a new interview with the director; a new featurette about Roald Dahl, author of the book upon which the movie is based; a 144-page production book reprint filled with photos and notes; and archival letters. The package also contained a retro Wonka Bar-shaped tin box with scented pencils and eraser.

The trailer is below (you must watch this one from my blog, not your RSS reader):


Personally, I like reunions like the Today Show version.  While BlueRay is nice, my recollections were watching this movie on a 19-inch TV via the airwaves (pre-cable days) so the reception wasn't great, hence my expectations and recollections are pretty low to start with.  However, having the content digitized may ensure it lasts a bit longer than the many, many movies that have yet to be converted, with the added benefit of being able to stream it to wireless devices (if you buy it).

Author P.S., November 11, 2015:  In celebration of the 44th anniversary of the film "Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory", NBC's Today show had the full cast (at least the children) from the movie, and this time ALL of them were there.  Check out http://on.today.com/1SJ1CZd for a link to the video clip on Today (at least for the time-being).

Why Must-See-TV Is History; But Is It The End of "Shared" Pop Culture?

With 200+ Channels, DTV, On-Demand, DVRs, Roku, Hulu and and personal libraries of DVDs, a veteran TV guy ponders the future of one of pop culture's most prominent channels ...

A recurring theme here at "Harvest Gold Memories" is that in the days before digital cable TV and 200+ channels, DVRs, On-Demand programming, YouTube, Hulu and Roku streaming internet video players, TV viewers had much more of a shared, collective experience with this particular form of pop culture (television).  Indeed, as "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?" authors Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont wrote in the introduction to their book (check out my coverage of that book HERE):

"For a supposedly fractured generation, we kids of the 1970s and 1980s share a far more universal past than kids today.  We all watched the same five channels, shopped at the same few chain stores, hummed the same commercial jingles."

That "shared" element is something that's lost when truly customizable TV programming has become the norm, and the trend away from it appears likely to continue.  For advertisers, its easier to sell to different niches of consumers than to try and do mass-marketing.  Although advertisers aren't the only factor behind this trend, they play an important role.

It's for this reason that I found a recent (April 30, 2012) NPR "All Things Considered" interview with former President of NBC, Warren Littlefield very interesting and informative.  Mr. Littlefield posits (and I'm inclined to agree with him) that there will like never again be an experience like what NBC television called "Must See TV" back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Have a listen below, or by visiting NPR at http://n.pr/L2VEB2:

I'm not one to dwell too heavily on a past that cannot be resurrected, but I do find the issue interesting for a variety of reasons.  Notably, it makes me wonder just how sustainable the notion of being an "American" really is anymore?  One need only look at election results over the past 25 years or so to see the incredible fracturing taking place (according to a new report from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Americans' values and "basic beliefs" are more polarized today than at any point in the past 25 years).  But politics aside, there is similar fracturing in a once largely-homogenous U.S. pop culture, especially television and to some extent, radio, too.  Mr. Littlefield described what's happened this way:

"We lose some of that massive collective experience," he said, "and that will never come back."

But less anyone be led to believe that all the hyper-fragmentation is good for all parties involved, don't be mistaken: Mr. Littlefield believes it's not specificity that viewers want most; rather it's good television. He added "I think what audiences covet, really, are the high-quality."

Neither he, nor anyone else in television, see the old days with massive TV audiences coming back.  However, we ARE seeing a return to some actual sitcoms after a nightmare of almost nothing but bad reality TV shows on almost every network for several seasons.  Those were seen as cheap to produce, with a cast that worked for free, but who the hell wants to watch reruns of past seasons of American Idol, The Amazing Race, Survivor or The Bachelor/Bachelorette?  That's completely disposable entertainment whose appeal dissipates when the conclusion is aired.

As for quality programming, we're seeing a mixed bag on that.  There are some standouts, but with so many choices, I suspect the creativity of networks and TV producers is being stretched a bit thin.  For every standout like Modern Family or Glee, there are also duds like The Playboy Club or Unforgettable (apparently, it was forgettable, it ended after just 1 season, with the final episode on May 8, 2012).

I would say much of the reason "Must See TV" is history is driven by technology.  Today, viewers don't see television as something they need to schedule their evenings around, but as something that comes to them whenever (and wherever) they want it.  The VCR was the first move in this direction, but few people could really program them (heck, few people could even set the damn clocks!), then came DVRs which made it sooo much easier.  Along with that, we have digital cable with on-demand, as well as streaming internet video via Netflix, Hulu or other sites.  Even if you don't pay for television, digital broadcast tripled the number of VHF TV stations available, and now includes things like RTV (Retro Television) or Antenna TV.  And you can even set your DVR to record something with your mobile phone so it records something you can watch when you get home.

If you're interested in learning more, Mr. Littlefield has a book available entitled "Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV" by Warren Littlefield and T. R. Pearson.  The book can purchased online, or downloaded as an ebook via the usual places (Amazon.com, iTunes, Google Play/Android Marketplace and elsewhere), or you can check it out at your local public library.  Besides the book, there's also a CD entitled "NBC: A Soundtrack Of Must See TV" containing theme songs featured on "Must See TV" consisting of around 50 songs.  That one, as I understand it, is only available on CD but you can likely find it online.

Big Daddy's Diner

Whatever your thoughts on diner food, no one could mistake the typical diner fare as haute cuisine.  That's not to dismiss the diner's place in American pop culture by any means.  Visitors to my city (New York) in particular are frequently overwhelmed by the gastronaumic choices available.  Too many budget conscious travellers in New York go to the same big chains they could just as easily get at home in Omaha as they could in Midtown Manhattan, yet they pay too much to patronize places like Olive Garden or TGIFridays.

While I'm on the subject of pop culture, a New York company known as Branded Restaurants USA has a diner chain known as Big Daddy's Diner (and note the music playing in the background on its website!) in it's 3 distinct dining businesses (the others consist of a Mayland-styled crab restaurant known as City Crab, and southern-themed restaurant chain known as Duke's Roadhouse).  "Big Daddy" is hardly a unique name in American culture.  For example, a quick Google search reveals businesses in virtually every location with the same name.  But Big Daddy's Diner, which currently has a handful of locations in New York, is looking to expand in prime real estate locations.  I have no background on what they're looking for besides a AAA retail location in a good location, but the concept is like many others and could expand soon.

Regardless, the theme of Big Daddy's Diner is pretty much retro pop culture kitsch.  Have a look at some photos:

Obviously, the decor is something that can be mass-produced and replicated in locations wherever they may be built, though I should note that the wall coverings are actually painted on the walls, not wallpaper.  But the American pop culture icons are everywhere in the decor and on the menu, and most are particularly relevant and seem geared towards Generation X.

They also have a frequent diner program, and check out their menu by visiting HERE.  If menu selections, such as calling their salad selection "Green Acres", the burgers "Where's the Beef?" or the smoothies selection (appropriately enough) "I Love Juicy", or a sandwich with a title like "Name that Tuna", all these things are are clearly named after pop culture TV shows (or advertisements, notably Wendy's famous "Where's the Beef" ads which ran during the 1980s).  Indeed, much of the menu is named after other pop culture references.

As for the food, well, it's typical diner fare (incidentally, they don't serve french fries, but tater tots, I'd guess Mercedes from TV's "Glee" would be delighted with that!).  It's not the best, nor the worst for diner food, but obviously it can be replicated virtually anywhere, which I suspect is what the company wants to do.

Incidentally, the one I've been to is located in the Union Square area of New York, but each location has recurring themes.

What does anyone think about mass-marketing this as a diner concept?

Space Food Sticks Still Available in 2012!

Gen Xers didn't witness the moon landing or the associated space and NASA-related fads that emerged from that great American adventure.  (In fact, our collective "space" memories may very well be the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster which took place on January 28, 1986.)  But that doesn't mean leftovers from the 1969 moon adventure didn't remain around for years after, one of which was known initially as Space Food Sticks.

Pillsbury was the company who marketed the product, although Pillsbury itself became a division of bigger agri-business rival General Mills in 2001.  According to the legend, in the formative years of space travel, food represented a major hurdle for NASA technicians. Keeping it fresh, tasty (or at least, edible, meaning it didn't test the astronauts' collective gag reflexes) as well as safe was tricky.  The early astronauts were given sustinence in the form of cubes covered with edible gelatin or semi-liquid food puree squeezed out of a toothpaste-like tube.

Apparently, Pillsbury lent its support to NASA, but saw an opportunity to catch a little "moon fever" for their company, leading to the creation of what were known, at least initially, as Space Food Sticks.

A battery of food scientists at Pillsbury, lead by a guy known as Dr. Howard Bauman, whipped up an energy stick that was actually tasty (even if the nutritional value wasn't much better than a Snickers bar).  They tasted like a cross between a tootsie roll, and Play-Doh.  They didn't stick to your teeth the way candy did, and were promoted as nutritious, although an examination of the ingredients list today suggests otherwise.

In any event, the long, chewy sticks could slide into an airtight port located in an astronaut's helmet to provide essential nutrition in case of an emergency. Needless to say, Pillsbury released a commercial spin-off of their cosmic creation, imaginatively dubbing the product Space Food Sticks.  If the promoters are to be believed, in 1973, a version of Space Food Sticks made its way onto the Skylab 3 mission.

The Beginning of the End for Space Food Sticks ... For a While, Anyway

Of course, by the time I sampled these pre-protein, pre-energy bars, the company had all but removed the term "Space" from the name, hence they were known simply as Pillsbury Food Sticks.  To me, they tasted like a skinny cookie if memory serves me; they were sweet, but not monster-sized as candy and treats are today.  Heck, a typical granola bar sold in 2012 is easily more than twice the size (and twice the calories)!

At some point, though, the fad had run it's course, and according to the historians on this subject, after the energy crisis of the mid-1970s, the space program took a back seat to other pressing issues. The product's profile was further reduced when Pillsbury dropped the "Space" from the name and distributed them as Food Sticks. The word energy bar hadn't been invented yet. Slowly but inevitably the fabled Sticks gradually disappeared from supermarket shelves.  By the 1980s, they had become a memory.

Space Food Sticks' Resurrection

People still remember these things, and I'm pleased to share that a new form of these things is still available.  In 2001, a company effectively resurrected Space Food Sticks.  For example, you can find them at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as retailers like New York's famed toy retailer FAO Schwartz (as I understand it, FAO Schwartz has been owned by Toys R Us for over a decade, even though it's been something that was never promoted as New Yorkers like to believe their institutions are safe from the Wall Street greed mongers that work downtown, but I digress ...).  The flavor of the resurrected sticks tastes the same as I recall them, although the shape is a bit more bar-like, not the skinny, rounded sticks I was used to -- I simply sliced them to make them more like the shape I remembered.

What's even better is today, you can order these pieces of food history online.

Just visit http://spacefoodsticks.com/ where you can find all kinds of stuff on Space Food Sticks, including history, historical advertisements, and even TV commercials from the original launch of these things.  They also have an online store, and they sell two flavors: chocolate and peanut butter (these were the better tasting of the two in my humble opinion).  The company now selling these things is based in the town where I used to live (check out this YouTube clip for more on the manufacturing of the product), so the delivery was next-day for me, but I can tell you, they taste pretty much as I remembered them.  The company claims:

"We hired internationally-renowned food scientist Mario Medri to re-engineer the formula based on original ingredients and existing samples. Without Mario's random act of kindness (he didn't know us but he could tell we had passion) Space Food Sticks would be a distant memory. Mario introduced us to  Kalman Vadasz, the "Michelangelo" of the confectionary business for over 40 years, to recreate the taste and texture of the originals. The results exceeded our wildest expectations. We hope you agree."

My memories may not be as vivid as others, but I think they taste pretty darn close.

Author P.S., December 7, 2014: This was posted on their Facebook page today: "We lost our manufacturer (insert sad emoticon here) so Space Food Sticks are officially out-of-circulation BUT we hope to re-launch the Sticks in a better-than-ever formula in 2015. We're looking at some new manufacturers but if you know anybody who can help let us know!" The reason seems to be they "got washed out by a private equity group" according to an article published by Vice (see http://bit.ly/2dY2T14 for more).

Author P.S., November 27, 2017:  Today, on Facebook, they wrote: "Three years after losing our manufacturer we found a new amazing recipe to make new Space Food Sticks in three flavors: Triple Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cookie and Peanut Butter.  They seriously taste out of this world! And the new packaging is very cool–a fun, modern take on the classic astro-snack you know and love. We plan to have these babies back in very early January [2018]."  As of early 2018, a product called Space Food Sticks had changed, and the original flavors are no longer being sold.  For details, see their website at https://www.funkyfoodshop.com/space-food-sticks-chocolate-chip-cookie-p-157.html for more information.

Author P.S., July 19, 2019: On July 19, 2019, a Facebook group called the "Space Food Sticks Preservation Society" posted an interesting news that a newly created version of the snack known as Space Food Sticks would soon relaunch with cannabis — with 5 mg of THC — half joking that the new version "is truly out of this world". They said the cannabis-infused Space Food Sticks were not made by Pillsbury, which is now owned by General Mills. Instead, but the new version will come from New York-based Retrofuture Products and The Art of Edibles in Los Angeles. No other details were offered, although a similar story emerged on the Food Industry blog known as Food Dive (the operator has other blogs serving a variety of different industries) which can still be seen at https://www.fooddive.com/news/leftovers-space-food-sticks-relaunch-with-cannabis-nutri-grain-shrinks-do/559119/ if you're interested. The original press release it cites is now gone, so its unclear whether the plans ran into legal challenges, but I'd say stay tuned.